In 1969 dad rescued this 1928 Chevrolet (10,485 original miles) off a Gippsland farm, he then stored it for a further 41 yrs in his workshop. A few months before dad was suddenly diagnosed with "AML Leukemia" in May of 2010 we spoke about getting it out of the shed, dads said "We'll get it running but we're not painting it all fancy". Sadly this never happened as dad passed away after a 6 week battle on 14th June 2010, I owe dad this restoration so here is my story of "Monty" our 1928 Chevrolet.

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Monday, September 5, 2011

Resto: Sanded back the timber spoked wheels

I suddenly got the urge to give the timber spokes a good sanding to see how they would come up, this overpowering rush of enthusiasm was brought on by the sudden appearance of 4 x brand new timber spoke wheels and metal rims on Ebay to suit a 1928 chev for a good few hundred dollars but they were located up in far north Queensland and the postage would of been a killer, but bloody hell new timber spokes on ole Monty, how flash would of that looked?
So for quite a lot less money I could buy a pile of sandpaper and still have a jam jar full of coins to buy my new exhaust with so I quickly calmed down and got to work on my old wooden spokes, I was curious as to how they would turn out as I have never laid any sandpaper on them before, only a light pressure wash when I first rolled Monty out of the shed covered in dust and then a few months back I brushed them with kerosine as they are a few borer holes in some of the spokes.

After about an hour of light sanding on each of the wheels I was bloody surprised at how good they looked, yes there are a few borer holes here and there and the slightest bit of wood rot in a couple of spokes I think they will look fantastic when given the final coat of lacquer when that time comes.

I will now get some good wood filler to treat the pin holes and I also have a product coming from the USA called "Chair-Loc" it is a clear liquid that you brush on, it soaks into the timber and the timber swells up inside to make the joins super tight and strong again.
My chief of staff/director/technical advisor in the mechanical division of this resto, "Ray" used this product years ago on his Chevy spokes which had began to loosen and was extremely surprised with the results and how quickly the timber returned to a strong tight hold in all the joins, so once again I shall give it a go, not that I can see or hear any loose spokes when I give each of them a gentle hit with the hammer but while I am at it I will do the job right.

This is the wheel with the most borer holes in it, but nothing that cannot be fixed

Like I said with a bit more work with some sandpaper and time these will hopefully turn out fine...
Thank you looking in from time to time..

1 comment:

Hi Grant, I stumbled across your blog today while tooling around in VCCA Chat. I'm from western Victoria and have a '27 Chev Capitol Tourer that I purchased running and registered in 2004. It's been refurbished rather than restored (that's code for having a steady run of "issues" to deal with!). Looks good from a distance!!! However, I've also owned a '28 Nash sedan since 1970 - bought it in one piece but now in many pieces! I originally thought I'd do the full resto, but over recent years I've become interested in putting it back together in "as found" condition, like your dad suggested doing with the Chevvie. Would love to catch up with you some time when I'm down Gippsland way (which is not often!).Cheers, Martin (martindunstan@hotmail.com)

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In memory of Wayne Fowler 12/02/1939 - 14/06/2010

"Time changes many things and the pain of losing dad will become a little more understandable as the years roll by but the love of our relationship will grow stronger each and every day and how lucky was I to have walked so closely beside him for 42 years, we smile now dad but the tears still fall".

THE 63 LINKS BELOW WILL WALK YOU THROUGH THE RESTORATIONS MAIN SECTIONS